A Vampire Killing
by Kayla Gayle
Summary: A grisly murder gets Nick closer to Janette. Posted by popular demand and dedicated to Kristin and the folks at FKFICL.
1. Chapter the First

**A Vampire Killing**

By Kayla Gayle

Bad title, but I am really bad at titles. If anyone has any suggestions for a better one, please let me know. 

I am an Immortal Beloved without a Nick/Janette story to my name. Sigh. So in answer to an inquiry from Kristin's email, here goes.

Archive at any known site—I give full permission.

They do not belong to me; they will never belong to me.

Timeline is somewhere in my beloved season 2.

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**Part the First**

The crime scene was gruesome. A woman had been killed and raped, her blood drained from her. Her entrails were hanging out from where the murderer stabbed her. Her older son was found in the hallway in the same condition. Bloody footprints led to the kitchen where a blender was red and blood spattered. A Dixie cup, with a blackish congealed substance stood next to it.

An infant's hat, smeared with blood as well was found by the door, with more red footprints leading down the path and over the lawn.

Donald Schanke, a balding 30ish detective with the Toronto Metropolitan Police, stood looking at the baby's hat. He was a father to a pre-adolescent girl and the missing baby was a female. It made him sick just thinking of it. He looked over at his blonde haired partner, who was not taking the blood at the scene well at all.

The blond detective, Nick Knight, was not taking the blood well. The scent of it was everywhere, for the house had been robbed as well. He had an almost overwhelming urge to lick up the blood sitting in the cup.

He took a few deep breaths to push his teeth back into place and to have his eyes some semblance of a color found in humans.

Schanke walked over to his partner.

"Seems like the same MO as the other scene last month. Family slaughtered, blood drinking at the scene. The only difference is that one member is missing."

"They haven't found the baby yet, then?"

"No, just blood in her playpen and a bonnet. Crime lab's taking casts of the shoeprints."

They heard a sound and looked around as Natalie Lambert came into the room with her medical bag and looked around her.

"Christ," she exclaimed. "This is worse than the last one."

"He's getting more violent that's for certain."

"Well, I best be getting to work," she told the two men as she went to kneel by the body of the boy.

Nick walked over to her.

"So, how long?"

She took the long thermometer out of the stomach of the victim.

"By liver temperature, I would say not more than an hour at the most."

He looked around, having to get away from the blood. He found Schanke talking to the husband of the slain women.

"I came home early today. We were supposed to go to the movies. The door was open so I walked in and…." The man, dressed in his municipal workers uniform broke down.

Nick looked outside where a crowd had gathered, as well as several news vans. It was only around 9pm, early enough to make the news.

A woman, in her late 50's, came up to the tall detective.

"Detective Knight? I was told to speak with either you or Detective Schanke."

"Yes, I'm Nick Knight," said he, holding out his hand.

"Bernice Woodman. I live across the street and I saw the gentleman who did this."

"How?"

"A few hours ago, a strange young man was on my porch trying to get into my house. I didn't let him in because of his rather peculiar appearance. He had on an old jacket—one of those you see homeless people wearing and ratty jeans. His face was rather lean and pockmarked. He looked ill, in fact. After a while of knocking, he just gave up and sat on my porch swing. I told him through the window that I was calling the police and he just gave me a blank sort of stare and then sauntered off."

"So how do you know this is the same person?" asked Nick, excitement mounting in him. This was the first solid lead they had.

"Because I saw the same man lurking around Sarah's home here. I was about to call the police when I noticed him walk away. I figured he had left, but I saw him again about an hour ago and he was walking down the street with a bundle in his arms. I picked up the phone to dial the police and saw Stanley come driving down the street. I thought everything was fine."

Bernice began to cry then. Nick put an arm around her and motioned over a uniformed officer.

"Take Mrs. Woodman here to the station and have her talk to a sketch artist. If we could come up with a description, we might be able to catch the s.o.b."

"Sure, Knight," said the patrolman as he led the weeping woman away. He was watching this when another officer came up to him and handed him something. He looked at it hard, turning it over and over in his hand.

"Schank? I'll be back. I have to check on something."

Schanke, through with the husband, came up to him.

"Partners, remember? What do you have to check up on?"

"That woman who just left came up with a lead and Officer Devalle handed me another."

He handed it to Schanke. They were wearing gloves so they wouldn't disturb any prints. The balding detective whistled low.

"Do you think?" he asked.

"That's what I need to know."

So saying, he walked out the door and away from the bloody home. Nat came up to Schanke.

"Where's he going?"

"You know Mr. Independent. He's off on a lead." The detective grinned. "Some guys have to stomach for this grisly stuff."

Don walked off to do some more poking around while Nat just stood there at the window.

"He never even said goodbye," she whispered softly.


	2. Chapter the Second

**A Vampire Killing 2?**

See part 1 for all disclaimers. All permission to archive at any known site—feel free, please. Sorry about the long time between postings, but I'm feeling better now.

And also thank you to everyone who has requested more. It's good to know that your appreciated.

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Nick drove his green Caddy down the rain slicked streets. It had started to rain a little earlier that night which is why they could not find much in the blood soaked prints that led away from the house. The rain was an annoying drizzle, the kind that made use of wipers semi-necessary.

He turned the radio dial to CERK and was surprised to find a taped LaCroix broadcast. He shrugged and turned off the radio then for he was almost at his destination.

He parked on the street, locking up the door to his vehicle. Then he took the stroll of half a block to the nondescript building with the subdued sign overhead saying "The Raven".

Walking through the door, he nodded at the doorman and down the steps into the club proper. It was jammed this night. Nick wend his way through the mass of people—both human and not. He saw the one he was seeking near the bar, talking to Miklos, the bartender. Nick liked Miklos. He minded his business and took good care to the place and its mistress.

Said mistress looked up with a delighted smile at the vision the detective presented to her. He looked delicious with his blonde hair just slightly damp.

"So Nicola," she purred at him, as he took her hand and kissed it, "are you here on business or pleasure?"

"Business," he stated.

"So, how can I help you today, detective," said a piqued Janette. He only came around lately on business. They had been getting quite close lately—what with the Leonardo picture and all.

Nick handed her a card—one from her establishment.

"This was found earlier at a rather ugly crime scene. Blood had been drunk as well. Anyone been on a killing streak lately?"

Janette sighed and looked at the card.

"What makes you think, besides the card, it was one of us?"

"I don't. These killings happened tonight, but a neighbor thought she saw a suspect earlier in the daytime. But he could hang out here if he was a groupie, could he not?"

"Maybe. Any description?"

Nick gave her the rundown of what the neighbor had said. Janette nodded.

"There was someone here matching that description. I had my bouncers throw him out. He looked like a homeless person in his clothing. He also had blood caked under his fingernails—thoroughly disgusting."

A nod from the detective.

"Anyone take any notice other than the bouncers?"

"As a matter of fact," she pointed to a group of young people. "He seemed taken with that group over there."

Nick saw a flash of fangs from a girl.

"Vampires?"

"Wannabe's, cher. They come in here a lot, for the atmosphere."

"Have they been coming in here long?"

"Not too much," said Janette, offhandedly. "So, Nicola, I helped you…"

"You have," said Nick, kissing her softly on the lips.

Janette put her arms around him. "So now, I have a favor to ask of you."

"Ask," said he, kissing her once more.

She responded for a moment and then broke away. It was unusual for him to be so affectionate as of late.

"I got an invitation to the Charity Fashion Show that's going to be held at the Convention Centre."

"And..." Nick prompted.

"I want you to go as my date."

Nick was surprised.

"Why me?"

Janette snorted some. She turned him toward the mirror over the bar.

"You will look so good on my arm, Nicola. Together we will be the toast of the event."

Nick looked up to the heavens for patience. However, he did tell her that he would do this favor, so, why not? What could it possibly hurt? As long as no one at the Precinct found out, he supposed he would be alright.

"Ok," he told her, decision made, "I'll go to this show with you. However, I want your complete cooperation in finding this guy."

"Of course, cher," she purred at him, giving him a light kiss on the lips. Then she pointed to a woman with black hair with a purple stripe in it wearing a rather gothic looking dress and fangs. "That, darling, is Mora. That...person seemed to know her."

A smile from the detective.

"Thank you, Janette." He told her simply.

"Well, that's not quite the way to say goodbye," she pouted, playfully. Truthfully though, she had gotten more kisses from him than she usually had. This time he gave an exaggerated sigh and then took her in his arms and kissed her proper. She looked up at him when they parted with an intense look in her eyes. "That, Nicola, was much better."

With that, Nick gave her a light kiss on her hair and left to talk to Mora.


	3. Chapter the Third

**A Vampire Killing (3 of ?)**

By Kayla Gayle

Thanks to everyone for their kind sympathies during this time. It has been a crazy month, let me tell you that. Anyway, here is another chapter and hopefully I will get to post more without any conflict coming up in my life.

Permission to archive. Thanks for all the reviews--keep them coming.

The dark haired Goth girl looked up when her name was called. And then she smiled.

"Yes?" she answered.

"Nick Knight, Metro Homicide and I'd like to talk with you."

A look of surprise.

"Why? Have I done anything?"

The detective took out a sketch and showed it to her.

"Anyone you know?" he asked, knowing the answer from the look on her face.

"Yeah, it looks a little like Dan."

"Dan..." Nick prompted.

"Dan Touchof. I used to go to school with him."

"Tell me about him," said Nick, leading her to a booth where they could actually talk. Nick had no problems hearing, but she obviously had.

"Not much to say. He's weird. I think he's on medication or something. He's always talking about how his master is coming for him and he needs to prepare."

"Master?"

"Yeah, it doesn't make a lot of sense. At one time he used to be real good-looking, but now he looks like he crawled out of a gutter."

A thought came to Nick.

"Is he homeless?" If he was, then it would make it easy for Nick had good relations with the homeless and had several connections.

Mora shook her head.

"Not that I know of. He gets some sort of check from the government. I know because I used to live in the same complex as he did and, since he didn't work, I asked him about it. His parents come over a lot as well, but I've never seen anyone actually enter his flat."

"Could it have something to do with this scene?" inquired he, looking around and at her outfit.

"Maybe. He never spoke to me in school, he seemed lost in his own world. Then a few months ago he came up to me and asked to join our coven."

Nick's jaw opened.

"Your what?"

"Coven. I play in a Vampire role playing game. He really wanted to be in, but he was just too out there. We let him join us for a few sessions, but then some people got scared of him and told him not to come around anymore."

"How long ago was this?"

"I don't know. Last week, I think. I haven't seen him lately."

"Do you know his flat number?"

"I do." She took a coaster and wrote the name and address of suspect. "I hope you find him. He was talking about sacrifices and all. Like I said, weird."

"Thank you, Mora."

The girl smiled. "Hey, you know, with your looks, you should join us. You look like you'd be a great vampire. You have a certain look about you."

At that, Nick remained silent but returned the smile. Thanking her, he stood and kissed her hand, which made her blush. She flashed her fang teeth and left. Nick almost laughed out loud as he walked back over to Janette.

"So, did you get the answers you came looking for?"

"I did," he said, kissing her quickly on the mouth. "Thank you. By the way, she said I'd make a great vampire."

"Hmm, I suppose at one time you did."

Not sure of whether to be insulted or not, Nick gave her an answering kiss and left the club, pulling his cell phone out of his jacket.

"Yeah?" Schanke answered on the second ring.

Nick told his partner what Mora had told him.

"Right, I'll get on it right away. If he's getting money from the government, he must be in their databases."

After some more small talk, he hung up the phone and got into the Caddy to proceed to headquarters.

"Well, buddy, your source is right on the money," Schanke told Nick as the vampire walked up to their desks. "Touchof is on disability, and get this, for schizophrenia. According to the records, he has been in and out of hospitals. It says here that the last one released him because he was a 'danger to staff and patients'."

Nick shook his head.

"Does it say where he lives?" he asked.

"Your girl was right on that as well. He used to live with his mother, who is supposed to be this really domineering woman. She and the father divorced after he accused her of trying to poison him."

"Wonderful. Sounds more and more like it could be our guy."

"Hey," Schanke pointed out suddenly, "doesn't this remind you of that case in the states about that so called vampire killer?"

"I remember reading about it. He thought he had soap dish poisoning and that his blood was degenerating in his veins so he needed more."

"Yeah, and they had a documentary on the telly about it last week."

A light went off in Nick's head, like it had in his partner's.

"You don't think he saw that show and decided to copy the killer, do you?"

"Why not, Nick. It all fits. Even the crime scene is similar."

A sudden thought hit the blonde detective. "If that's true, then he'll strike again. The killer in the states killed once a week, I believe."

They were just getting ready to leave when Captain Amanda Cohen came up to them.

"Any leads? I'm getting a lot of heat on this."

"Yeah, Cap," said Nick and briefly told her about their suspicions.

Cohen agreed. "Hold on while I go get a search warrant," she told them. "I want this to go by the book."

The two detectives agreed and Nick decided to call Touchof's mother. The phone call however, did not go as planned. Mrs. Touchof could not believe her son would be involved for he was "stupid" and "slow" and "couldn't think of that". Then she complained about being woken up in the middle of the night. Nick hung up the phone and whistled under his breath.

"Didn't go so well, huh?" asked Schanke, stating the obvious.

"No. If that's the way he was brought up, it's no wonder he's killing people." Nick sighed and checked the clock. Cohen should be back soon with the warrant for the flat. "I'm going to try his father. See his take on it."

The conversation with Mr. Touchof went surprisingly well. He was concerned that his son might do something violent and he had seen the documentary and seemed very excited about it. In fact, Mr. Touchof had even told his son to make an appointment at the local clinic. But the boy had not made the appointment and he had not seen him in a few days.

Cohen was back with the warrant and the two detectives left to check out the flat.


	4. Chapter the Fourth

**A Vampire Killing (4 of ?)**

By Kayla Gayle

Sorry so long between posts. And no, you didn't miss anything. I'm just sloooow and busy.

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It didn't take long to get to the flat of Dan Touchof. They pulled up and walked up the steps to the second story of the building. It was a typical building in a nice residential neighborhood--and not too far from the actual crime scene.

Nick knocked on the door.

"Dan? Metro police, open up."

No answer and Nick's supernatural hearing could not detect any movement in the flat. He motioned to the super, who had come up with them to open the door and he did.

The first thing that assaulted Nick's nostrils was blood. The smell was strong--a mix of animal and human. Nick turned away as he tried to control the vampire. Schanke gave him a glance.

"Hey, partner, you really need to get over this fear of blood." A silence and then, "Christ, look at this."

Nick took a couple of deep cleansing breaths and turned to look at the flat. He blinked once or twice. The living room was piled high with papers and trash. Bugs were crawling over the mess as if they owned the place and flies were everywhere.

He walked into the kitchen and stopped short, for the scent was strong here and no wonder. The dishes and pots were covered with the stuff. Several glasses showed congealing blood. Nick felt an awful urge to lap up some of the red elixir and took a few seconds to compose himself.

"Hey, Nick, look at this."

Nick turned and looked at Schanke, who was holding up a small object with some tweezers. It turned out to be the fingers of an infant. The rest of the arm was found under the sofa.

"Call headquarters," he told Schanke, who was as stunned as he was.

Sunrise was coming and Nick had to book off his shift. Schanke had also booked off; he needed to see Myra and Jenny to reaffirm some things in his life and soul. They agreed to meet at Mr. Touchof's home the next day.

Natalie came in just as he was leaving.

"Nick? Are you alright?" she asked, concern showing in her eyes.

"Let's see. We just found a vicious killer and all I wanted to do was drink the evidence."

"Nick..."

"Look, Nat, I just want to get some rest, ok?"

And he left as she watched him.

Nick parked the Caddy in the garage and took the elevator up. He was so concentrated on the case; he didn't notice the other person in his loft. After a few moments, he looked up and into the blue eyes of Janette.

"Why are you here?" he asked her.

"I heard through the grapevine about the case, mon amour."

"Yeah, well I'm just fine," said he, as he headed for the kitchen. He took a bottle out of the refrigerator and took the cork out and then guzzled it straight.

Janette shook her head and sat next to him on the couch, where he had landed.

"Nicola," she said, her voice a caress and working her hand through his hair, "you're all in knots." Moving closer she began to massage his shoulders. He leaned into her touch--perfected during the years they were together. Janette stopped her massage and began to kiss all over his neck, taking little nips every now and then. Nick didn't respond one way or the other. "Let's spend the day together," she whispered into his ear.

Nick turned to her. It would be so easy to give in and just forget about everything. So easy, he thought as she moved to his earlobe. Then he made his decision and pulled her up from the sofa and arm in arm they made their way to the bedroom.

The alarm rang and Nick turned over to shut it off. He then noticed the dark hair and smiled. This was quite the way to release tension. He stretched and kissed Janette on her hair and then rolled out of bed and into the shower.

Once dressed, he made his way downstairs for some breakfast. Janette must be exhausted, he thought, to sleep this late. He wrote a note telling the darker vampress that he left for work and exited down the elevator and into the Caddy.

"Welcome partner," greeted Schanke. "While you were getting your beauty rest, ole Donny here managed to pick up our perp."

This was good news to Nick.

"Where was he?"

Schanke laughed. "Trying to break into the Raven. He said that vampires were there and he needed more blood. Can you imagine?"

Nick gave a small, nervous kind of laugh.

"So he's put away, huh?"

"In the cage right now. Bail was denied and psyche will be in later on today to do an evaluation. Man, that is one weird dude."

"Well, all I can say is that I'm glad it's over and done with."

Out of the office just then came the Captain.

"Not quite yet. He confessed to three other killings and we need to sort those out," she told the two detectives.

Schanke groaned as Nick sat at his desk and powered up his computer to check past cases. It was then that Natalie came in, narrowed her eyes, and strode up to the blond.

"Feeling better?" she asked.

"I am."

"Good. I have something down in the lab I want you to see."

"Do I have to go also? This paperwork is going to take forever," Schanke whined.

"No, no. Nick can fill you in."

So saying, the coroner turned on her heels and strode off, with a rather sheepish detective behind her.


	5. Chapter the Fifth

A Vampire Killing (5 of ?)

By Kayla Gayle

Sometimes inspiration just strikes. Here's another chapter. The whole thing has full permission to archive at any known site.

Nick followed Natalie down to the morgue. Once inside she shut the door and faced him.

"Alright, what is going on?"

A perplexed look came over the vampire's face.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean you have been ignoring me for the past couple of weeks. Why?"

Nick turned away.

"I haven't been ignoring you."

"You have, Nick. Every time I ask about you, you turn away and have something else to do all of a sudden. And yesterday I took some protein drinks to you house and guess what I saw? A coat belonging to some female." She gave a small laugh. "Now I know I have no right to be like this, but I thought we were getting to be close."

"The coat was Janette's," Nick confessed. "I was with her last night."

"You know, Nick," said Natalie, trying desperately to control her temper, "you say you want to be mortal and then you go ahead and...stay with another vampire. This is not doing you any good, you know."

"I know that." Now, Nick was indignant. "It's that just sometimes I need to be around another vampire—another _female_ vampire."

"Why?"

"Because she gives me something you can't, being human and all."

"Oh, so now you don't care about me, is that it? You have your precious Janette and I can go take a leap! Tell me, Nick, are we still going to the movies this Saturday?"

Nick looked down and Nat knew the answer right off.

"No. I promised to take Janette to the Toronto Fashion Expo."

"Oh, of course. Fashion shows are just your thing, aren't they?"

"She helped me with the case. Without her, Touchof might still be out there, killing people. I told her that I would go with her as thanks for the help."

"Some thanks," Natalie griped. She turned and handed Nick a folder.

"Autopsy report on the baby. It's not pretty."

And with that, she turned to go. Nick went to go after her and then stopped himself. Instead, he glanced at the folder and went upstairs to finish up the dreaded paperwork.

The confession didn't take long and neither did the bail hearing. Bail was denied and Touchof went to the department shrink for evaluations. Nick and Schanke got a lot of kudos for the case and grudging praise from Cohen.

Natalie put in for vacation two days after the argument so Nick hadn't really been able to talk with her. It bugged him. He really liked her, but he and Janette were getting close again.

The evening of the Fashion Expo came and Nick dressed in his best Hugo Boss and went to pick Janette up from her apartment at the Raven. She took his breath away dressed in a slinky evening dress that accentuated every curve and heels so high, she was almost as tall as he was. The midnight blue of the dress was accented by diamonds and it brought out her eyes to perfection. Nick smiled thoughts of Natalie gone from his head for the moment. She has always intoxicated him and now she was doing it again.

"Well, mon cher, are you ready to go?"

Nick just nodded like an idiot and they walked to his Caddy. Janette balked.

"I don't think so, Nicola. Let's take my car."

So they ended up taking her Mercedes to the Convention Center where the shows were just beginning. Actually, they had taken place all day, but the major designers decided that it would be in to show after dark, and so they did.

Janette, known in the fashion community, received front row seats—a status symbol at shows like these. Nick, drawing admiring glances from all over, took the seat next to her as the announcer stepped in front of the curtain where the models would walk.


End file.
